Tag Archives: Mark Vonesch article

Industry

Area B Director’s Report: Cortes Quarry expansion?

Leave a comment

By Regional Director Mark Vonesch

As many of you are aware, 2385425 Alberta Ltd. (Island United) has applied to increase the size of the tenure of their quarry on Cortes Island from 1.25ha to 5.16ha.

Applications have been submitted to the Ministry of Forests and the Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals to increase the footprint, approve washing as a permitted activity, introduce a concrete plant, and increase the annual extraction rate to a maximum of 39,999 tonnes per year (up from approximately 5,000 tonnes per year).

These applications impact public land and our community and there is now opportunity for us, the public, to provide input into the decision.

Continue reading Area B Director’s Report: Cortes Quarry expansion? →
Politics

Campbell River Not Joining Electoral Area Land Use Planning Service

(Part One of the March 18, 2026 Area B Director’s Report )

By Regional Director Mark Vonesch

I’m really excited to share this newsletter with you. I have the results from the housing survey, but before we get to that, Cortes Island just had a big political win.

Continue reading Campbell River Not Joining Electoral Area Land Use Planning Service →
Housing, Politics

Area B Director’s Report: A New Cortes Housing Survey

By Regional Director Mark Vonesch

In partnership with the Cortes Housing Society, I am releasing a new Cortes housing survey to gather and summarize our collective housing experiences and opinions.

Hearing from you and understanding the housing needs of Cortes and how it is changing over time is important for the future of our community’s well being.

Continue reading Area B Director’s Report: A New Cortes Housing Survey →
Politics

Area B Directors Report: grant in aid, incorporation, taxes, ferries, Vice Chair, & zoning bylaw

By Regional Director Mark Vonesch

I hope this finds you well and excited for 2026. There is so much happening in Cortes local government and I want to give you an update on some of the issues I’ve been working on.

Continue reading Area B Directors Report: grant in aid, incorporation, taxes, ferries, Vice Chair, & zoning bylaw →
Politics

Area B Director’s Report: Should we explore the idea of incorporation?

By Regional Director Mark Vonesch

Currently all of Cortes Island’s local government services and decision making comes from the Strathcona Regional District (SRD). As your Regional Director, I share the decision making for most of our services with thirteen other Directors on the SRD Board.

Local government decisions impacting Cortes Island are currently decided by people who do not live on our island and a lot of you have approached me with the idea of having more local governance control.

In September I asked the SRD Board to support a motion to have staff create a report on the process for communities wanting to consider incorporation. That report can be found here:
https://agenda.strathconard.ca/SRDAttachments/SRDBoard/Open/BRD/22-Oct-25/20251009-Community-Incorporation-Overview.pdf

Continue reading Area B Director’s Report: Should we explore the idea of incorporation? →